Statement Game

The Patriots came out and made a collective statement in front of a national audience last night as they trounced the San Diego Chargers 38-14 at Gillette Stadium.

John Tomase says that the Chargers also made a statement last night and it went like this: “Mommy.” Scott Benson has the Patriots doing their talking on the field last night. Christopher L. Gasper says that the Patriots played like a team hell-bent on exacting revenge. Shalise Manza Young has Patriots players talking about how satisfying this win was for them. David Heuschkel has the Patriots dominating on offense and turning LaDainian Tomlinson into a non-factor. Douglas Flynn says that the Chargers might wish there weren’t any cameras around for last night. Chris Kennedy says that there is nothing scarier than watching a ticked off Tom Brady vent his frustration. Rich Garven says that this game lacked the drama of the playoff matchup, but certainly not the emotion. David Brown has the Patriots sending the rest of the league a signal with their performance. Mark Farinella says that this effort should be committed to film. Mike Lowe has the Patriots sending a message with their domination of the Chargers.

Christopher Price has his 10 Things We Learned Last Night. Michael Felger looks at the Patriots coming up with the ultimate comeback to their critics. Jackie MacMullan has the Patriots backing their coach last night, and making a statement to all. Albert Breer says that calling and making all the big plays is what separates these two teams. Mike Reiss looks at the Patriots going no-huddle to start the game and get an idea of how the Chargers would be able to handle the three receiver sets. Kevin McNamara has more on the air arsenal that the Patriots led off the game with. Jim Donaldson says that this Patriots team has more offensive weapons than any in franchise history.

Karen Guregian has more on Tom Brady and the offense embarrassing the Chargers last night. Frank Dell’Apa has Brady throwing three touchdowns and plenty of praise towards his coach. Dan Ventura also looks at Brady and company staying focused on the matters at hand. Donaldson has Brady making some strong statements on and off the field in support of his team and coach. Dan Pires has the Patriots defense smothering LT and company.

I’m really not sure what Tony Massarotti is trying to say. He’s talking about Belichick acknowledging the crowd last night and appearing human, and also suggests that Belichick has “absolutely no reservoir of goodwill on which to draw” from his professional colleagues. Kevin McNamara has Tedy Bruschi speaking out on what this game meant to him and the team. Donaldson says that for Belichick in this case, the adage that actions speak louder than words was true last night. Jeff Jacobs says that cheating makes cents for Belichick.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell has a look at Wes Welker, as the newcomer continues to impress. Jennifer Toland has Rosevelt Colvin stepping up and bringing the heat on Philip Rivers. Rich Thompson looks at a pair of former Purdue Boilermakers in Colvin and Shaun Phillips making their mark in the NFL. Robert Lee also has Colvin having a monster game last night for New England. Bob Hohler has the Chargers failing to find their power source last night.

Ventura has the best and worst from yesterday. Murphy looks at Adalius Thomas’ interception and TD as the play of the game for last night. Heuschkel has his sidelines report of what went right and wrong for the Patriots last night.

Robert Lee has Thomas making a huge impression in his Gillette debut as a Patriot. Toland has a piece on Willie Andrews, who has carved a role for himself on special teams. Lee also has Laurence Maroney knowing that his time has come to take the lead role. Tim Weisberg has a look at Wareham’s Stephen Cooper relishing his role with the Chargers. Lee wraps up his player profiles with Donte Stallworth patiently awaiting his turn on offense, while he works on his timing with Tom Brady.

Red Sox
Oh yeah, there was a little baseball game going on at the same time last night. Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling hooked up for a pitching duel, and even though Schilling might’ve last longer than Clemens, his last pitch of the evening proved fatal as Derek Jeter cranked a three-run homer which proved to be the game winner for the Yankees in a 4-3 Red Sox loss.

Michael Silverman has the Red Sox unable to come back from the Jeter blast. Gordon Edes has the Red Sox coming out on the short end of a great game at Fenway. Joe McDonald has the Red Sox staying positive after the loss. Jeff Goldberg has a classic pitchers duel being decided by a classic hitter. Art Davidson has Jeter jolting the Sox once more. Ron Chimelis says that Clemens made the most of what could’ve been his last game at Fenway. Kevin Thomas looks at Jeter breaking up the pitching duel.

Dan Shaughnessy notes that Schilling and Clemens have a lot in common, and it made for sensational theater last night. Steve Buckley looks at aging hurlers Schilling and Clemens being unwilling to ride off into the sunset just yet. Lenny Megliola says that the Rocket and Schill are two for the ages. Steven Krasner looks at Rivera vs. Ortiz last night. Dom Amore looks at the six strong innings from Clemens last night.

Jon Couture says that the Red Sox have managed to survive the absence of Manny Ramirez. Speier says that Clay Buchholz could be the Red Sox K-Rod in the postseason, as he wonders if the Sox are keeping him under wraps to limit his exposure. Benjamin has the young and the old of the Yankee bullpen getting the job done last night. Buckley says that the Red Sox are already working on setting their rotation for October, and changes could start this week.

Speier has Yankees rookie Shelley Duncan getting in a little hot water after scribbling “Red Sox Suck” in a kid’s autograph book. Cafardo has Jorge Posada answering the bell after getting run over on Saturday.